New Delhi : The
upcoming winter session of Parliament is likely to be delayed
and there is a good chance that it will be shorter than normal.

Last year, the month-long winter session commenced on 16
November and ended on 16 December, with 22 sittings of both
Houses.

To be sure, the final decision will be taken by the Cabinet
Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA). A meeting is likely
to be scheduled this week.

Disclosing this, senior leaders of the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) said the session could happen in December because
most politicians are busy with the ongoing election campaign in
Gujarat.

“There is no clarity on the dates till now. It seems the
situation will become clear once Prime Minister Narendra Modi
returns from the three-day visit to the ASEAN-India and the East
Asia summits. As of now, it seems that the winter session would
get pushed to December and would not start in November,” said a
senior NDA leader, declining to be named.

The two-phase election in Gujarat is scheduled to take place on
9 and 14 December, while counting is scheduled for 18 December
along with the counting of votes for Himachal Pradesh where
polling recently concluded.

Senior leaders of the NDA said a large section of
parliamentarians, including the Prime Minister, Union ministers
and many senior Congress leaders, would be busy in the election
campaign in Gujarat which could adversely impact the winter
session.

Most of the 37 members of Parliament (MPs) from Gujarat, 26 from
Lok Sabha and 11 from Rajya Sabha, would also be involved in
campaigning, so there is a view in the Union government that the
winter session should be postponed and also should have fewer
sittings.

The problem for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is that
Congress along with several opposition parties is planning to
use the winter session to corner the government on issues of one
year of demonetization, alleged problems in the implementation
of goods and services tax (GST), and the recent corruption
allegations against Jay Shah, son of BJP president Amit Shah.

“There has been no consultation by the government with Congress
leaders on this issue. The sense we have got is that the session
will get delayed and could likely begin towards the end of
campaign for Gujarat polls and it could well be a truncated one.
We are looking for similar precedents and we will definitely
raise our voice against this,” a senior Congress lawmaker said,
requesting anonymity.

Former Union minister Manish Tewari, while addressing a press
conference on Monday, opposed any move to delay the winter
session.

“They truncated the monsoon session and are now looking to
reduce the winter session as well. It is not the first time that
assembly elections are being held in this country. There is an
absolute lack of transparency in this government. There is no
intimation from the government and opposition parties are not
kept in the loop. The government is scared of discussion in
Parliament,” a senior leader from the Communist Party of India
(Marxist) or CPM said, requesting anonymity.

“It is evident that the winter session is getting delayed
because of Gujarat elections. But I do not see this as a
substantial reason to delay an entire session. It would have
been better if the session had started as per the norm because
political parties and people will question why an entire session
was delayed,” said Bidyut Chakrabarty, a New Delhi-based
political analyst and political science professor at Delhi
University.